Market shares of power generation companies as of April 2021 were unchanged from the previous monitoring as of end-October 2020, with no additional capacities having come on stream due to the pandemic.
A report by the Department of Energy (DOE) showed the current Philippine power market concentration is moderate based on a Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) computation of 1,982 for the entire country “and quite far from a monopoly.”
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids also indicated a moderately concentrated market having HHI of 1,786, 1,828 and 1,420 respectively.
Markets with HHI of less than 1,500 are considered to be a competitive marketplace while those with over 1,500 to 2,500 are moderately concentrated marketplace and a count of over 2,500 is tagged as a highly concentrated marketplace.
As of April 2021, Aboitiz Power Corp. continued to have the biggest share in installed generating capacity in the entire country as of April 2021, according to a report of the DOE.
Aboitiz had 4,973.4 megawatts (MW) of installed generating capacity or about 21.3 percent of the total 23,409.7 MW.
As of April 2021, San Miguel Power Corp. and First Gen Corp. also remained in the second and third spots with 4,856 MW (20.7 percent) and 3,567.8 MW (15 percent), respectively.
The government through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) had an 11 percent market share equivalent to 2,462.9 MW as the Ayala Group’s ACEN has 1,235.1 MW equivalent to 5 percent, at fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
For the Luzon grid, San Miguel or 28 percent of the 16,044 MW total installed capacity in the region.
Other top producers in the region were Aboitiz Power with 3,401.7 MW or 21 percent, First Gen with 2,518 MW or 16 percent, PSALM with 1,615.8 MW or 10 percent and DMCI Power Corp. with 950 MW or 6 percent.
For the Visayas grid, First Gen led with 941.5 MW or 28 percent of the total installed generating capacity of 3,366.6 MW.
Aboitiz Power followed with 22 percent or 730.8 MW installed generating capacity, Global Business Power secured 18 percent or 605.7 MW, SPC Power Corp. with 315.2 MW at 9 percent and ACEN with 223.7 MW at 7 percent.
In the Mindanao grid, PSALM still held the main portion of the power generation with an installed generating capacity of 847.1 MW or a 21.2 percent share in the total installed generating capacity of 3,999.1 MW in the region.
Other leading power generators in Mindanao were Aboitiz Power with 840.9 MW or 21 percent, Alsons Power with 480.2 MW or 12 percent, ACEN with 454.2 MW or 11 percent and FDC Utilities Inc. with 405 MW or 10 percent.
The report showed for the period, no power generation entity has exceeded the installed generating capacity and market share limitation of 25 percent for the national grid as well as the 30 percent market share limit for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
With no significant additional power capacity added in the grid between October 2020 and April 2021, stakeholders continue to appeal for immediate solutions to assure that power supply will be sufficient at least during the election week next month.
The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) warned rotating brownouts are still likely to happen during and after May 9 as forced shutdowns of baseload coal power plants continue to occur less than two weeks before the national elections.
“Last January, the DOE highlighted that the key to averting the looming blackouts during and after the election period is to strictly follow the approved Grid Operating and Maintenance Program (GOMP). Just this month, the DOE called on generation companies and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines to ensure that the country has enough power supply by holding off maintenance activities one week before and after May 9.
However, the latest data shows that the GOMP is not being followed as multiple coal plants still experience unplanned shutdowns,” said Jephraim Manansala, ICSC chief data scientist.
Manansala in a statement said coal plants are not allowed to have planned and scheduled outages from March 26 until June 2022, according to the approved GOMP but 12 out of 23 coal plants in Luzon have experienced shutdowns after March 25 with two of them still down as of Wednesday.
With just 10 days before the national elections, ICSC called on the national government, businesses and residential customers to do their share in preventing power supply shortages and brownouts next month mainly by avoiding unnecessary power use from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc. (PIPPA) called on all power industry players including generation, transmission, system operations, distribution, and consumers to collaborate in mitigating and preventing the negative effects of the forecasted thin reserves margin next month until June.
PIPPA said the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) will play an important role to reduce electricity drawn from the grid and help avert power interruptions when grid power reserves are most critical.
Under ILP, customers with large electricity consumption are encouraged to run their own generator sets whenever supply of electricity in the grid is short in exchange for monetary incentives. The fuel they will use in running their own power source are also paid by consumers.
PIPPA added interconnection projects should also be fast tracked in order for stranded power supply to be utilized by the national grid.
